Old Oswestry Hillfort

Old Oswestry developed from a hilltop settlement into an elaborate Iron Age stronghold. Evidence of occupation predates the first ramparts, while later banks and ditches were added through several major construction phases. These earthworks provided obstacles to attackers but may also have expressed the status of the community occupying the hill. William Varley’s excavations in 1939 revealed roundhouses, hearths and evidence of metalworking. Imported pottery and salt containers indicate connections beyond the immediate area. The settlement’s precise political identity is not known, and descriptions of a tribal capital remain interpretations. After the hillfort’s main period of use, the linear earthwork Wat’s Dyke incorporated the site into a different landscape boundary. First World War military training caused further disturbance, including trenches and craters within the enclosure. The surviving earthworks therefore preserve Iron Age construction alongside changes made many centuries later. Period: Later Bronze Age settlement and Iron Age hillfort; later reuse Grid reference: SJ 29574 31019 Protection: Scheduled monument Source: Historic England, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1014899 (Open Government Licence). © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Banner photo: "Ramparts on Old Oswestry Hillfort - geograph.org.uk - 2755938" by Bill Boaden, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 2.0.